James Dunne felt Cambridge United gave the perfect response to the previous weekend’s disappointment in Saturday’s 2-1 away win over Exeter City.

The U’s went into the Sky Bet League Two match at St James’ Park having seen their five-game unbeaten run ended by Grimsby Town at the Cambs Glass Stadium last time out.

But two early goals from Luke Berry and Harrison Dunk helped them claim maximum points in Devon, with substitute Joel Grant’s second-half header proving no more than a consolation.

“We had a game plan to use big Uche (Ikpeazu) to his strengths as we knew he could cause them problems at the back,” said midfielder Dunne.

“Thankfully in the first half it worked and we managed to go two goals up.

“Obviously in the second half you’re always going to get a reaction from Exeter and they played the ball around, but I think we defended really well to come away with the 2-1 win.

“We needed a reaction as last week wasn’t good enough and we know that. We had to come here and react well, and thankfully we did and got the three points.”

The Grecians are winless at home in the league and Dunne felt the U’s took advantage of the pressure being put on their manager Paul Tisdale by the home crowd.

The Exeter supporters did get right behind their team after Grant pulled a goal back, but a fine save from Will Norris and some superb tackles from Mark Roberts helped deny Dunne’s former side an equaliser.

“A lot’s been going on here recently and I used to be here. Paul Tisdale’s been here for 10 years and he’s getting a bit of stick at the moment,” said Dunne.

“It was a good opportunity for us, but not nice for him. I think we took the opportunity with the two quick goals, which obviously got the crowd onto their players.

“They got their goal, which was probably the only disappointment from the game today, but we defended well and had a good shape about us.”

Dunk was substituted in the second half as a precaution after hurting his elbow, while Berry will serve a one-match suspension after collecting his fifth yellow card of the season.